Mopar Champion Plug Copper Plus 426 Rc9yc5 Single on 2040-parts.com

The no-show cars: a reader rant on mad concepts

Instigated by Harley Earl at General Motors in the late 30s with the quaintly named Buick Y-Job, show cars, or concept cars, were presented to an excited public eager for new things. As the world recovered from a depression and then a war, these vehicles pointed to a better future that many people believed in, including the people who produced them. And, although many of the concept cars of the 50s, with their Jetsons plexiglass roofs and notional nuclear powered engines seem ludicrous now, in their time they weren’t that cynical.

NHRA marks Don Garlits's 80th birthday with fundraising Rat Roast

Drag racing's “Big Daddy” Don Garlits celebrated his 80th birthday on Jan. 14. To mark the milestone, the NHRA is holding a charity event during the season-opening O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals next month.

One Lap of the Web: French car weirdness and Sebring domination

-- In this episode of "How to Perform Simple Tasks to and Around Your French City Car," we learn to refill the windshield washer fluid in the Renault Twingo. First, you pull a cover hidden in the thin front grille against one of the headlights. It dangles downward like a weak loogie.